Tater Trot Tracker

Trot Times for June 26

A busy day yesterday kept me from posting Saturday's trots here at the Tater Trot Tracker. Apologies for that. I'll include notes on them below. With beautiful weather across the country, the weekend was prime for home run hitting. There were few memorable home runs, but it wasn't for lack of trying. On Saturday, for example, there were 35 home runs hit.

Now let's get to those trots!

Home Run of the Day: Yuniesky Betancourt, Milwaukee Brewers (Saturday) - 16.3 seconds [video]
An inside-the-park home run for the Brewers shortstop. The ball was lofted to the leftfield wall in Miller Park. Delmon Young, not exactly the surest glove in baseball, read the ball terribly wrong and misplayed it. The ball bounced off his glove and away from Young. It would have been funny to watch if Young hadn't then caught his ankle under the padding of the wall. He was too injured to get up and Betancourt came around to score. His 16.3 second trot is definitely on the low end when it comes to inside-the-park times.

Slowest Trot: Ramon Hernandez, Cincinnati Reds - 27.21 seconds [video]
The Reds and Orioles combined for about 47 home runs in their two games this weekend. Hernandez's home run on Sunday came in the ninth inning of the game and brought the Reds to within two. It was a big blast to the left-centerfield bleachers, but there was hardly anything amazing about it. Hernandez seemed to think otherwise, though, enjoying the blast off his bat and while running the bases.

Juan Rivera's Saturday blast looked even more egregious from the slow-walk-and-watch perspective, but his came in a tad quicker at 27.06 seconds (video). Evan Longoria had a home run reviewed after he was thrown out at second. The call was reversed and he was allowed to score (video). There has been some tsk-tsking of Longoria for slowing down a bit on the trot, but it doesn't seem warranted to me. The ball was clearly a home run and he knew. The umpires were the ones who were wrong. Nice to see instant replay do what it was supposed to.

Quickest Trot: Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers - 18.28 seconds [video]
People often ask me if there is a difference in trot times between no-doubt home runs and the ones that barely clear the wall. There is most certainly a difference, and you can easily tell from this Braun home run (and Michael Young's in Texas [video]). In both cases, the ball clears the fence but bounces back onto the field. The runners continue running hard to second until they are certain that the umpire has called a home run. The result is the two quickest trots of the day.

On Saturday, Betancourt's inside-the-parker was the day's quickest trot. Adam Rosales also hit a solo home run, but he didn't give it the same kind of run he used to. He even slowed down for the last couple of steps at the plate, resulting in a 17.02 second trot. And, by the way, Rosales is the only person I could ever be disappointed in with a 17.02 second trot.

The best explanation is here: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?type=2&articleid=13739#84595

In short, it means that the time is a close approximation due to the view I was given. I only give approximate times if I feel that there's some evidence he touched the plate at that time. If the camera cuts away completely before I see a player at the plate, his time is marked as not measurable.